Hamburg, population 4,000, has a compact downtown of brick buildings in various states of disrepair, some of which date to the late 1800s. Lining Fourth Street, the main drag, are antiques stores, gift shops and a cafe. Across the highway, Cabela's has its own restaurant, and some fast-food chains have opened in the store's shadow.

"That's the thing, they're putting everything up there," Muller said, glancing toward the hill upon which the imposing 250,000-square-foot

Cabela's looms. "There's no reason to come into town."

Richard Spencer, owner of the Appalachian Restaurant and Shoppe, estimated Cabela's customers make up 5 percent to 15 percent of his business.

"The perception of what was going to happen, from the town's perspective, hasn't," he said.

Foot traffic is lacking downtown, he said. "The trick is to get them here."

Talk among public officials of establishing a trolley line to cart Cabela's shoppers to and from town petered out over the past year.

Hamburg's Our Town Foundation recently performed a survey of visitors. Among the respondents were people from 20 states. But Deena Kershner, owner of the Doris Berry clothing store and the program manager for Our Town, said sales at her business are flat.

"Yes, there have been people coming into our town," she said. "However, we may not have the stores the tourists are looking for."

Robert Fogel, owner of B&D Antiques, is one of the few Hamburg retailers to say he has experienced an appreciable increase in sales, thanks mostly to an influx of weekend shoppers.

"But during the week," he added, "the town is a ghost town. It's terrible."